A Japanese university student generously sent me the ad, along with
others, some very old, which were part of a paper
she wrote about the history of the Japanese menstrual products industry.
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special
for you! - the American fax tampon,
from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American
Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley
in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
 
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Ad for Elldy menstrual tampon (Japan), Junie magazine (October 1996)
Japanese women, as I understand it, favor pads to tampons by a wide
margin. In general, it seems to me that women in strongly
patriarchal societies like Japan use pads (or nothing at all, which these
Indian directions
refer to) much more than tampons. I think that's the case in most
of Asia and the Spanish-speaking world.
My theory, which can't be original:
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Men in strongly patriarchal societies
want to know when women are menstruating so they can treat them specially,
often badly, by Western standards at least. Tampons allow women
to completely or almost completely conceal their period, eluding that control.
(Reusable cups and sponges
conceal even better, since a woman has nothing to throw away each time
she uses it.)
A society that believes menstruating
women exert a special power has a stake in knowing when women are menstruating
- if I believed that, I would want to know too! Hey, it's important that
wine and crops not be ruined! Menstruation is also an indication that a
woman is not pregnant.
Remember, there are many people today who believe in the
Evil Eye, a topic as interesting as menstruation.
Menstruation has and certainly had a similar importance in many societies.
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Note the English in the ad, probably simple so that most school girls could
read it. English has status in many popular cultures of the world (see a
German panty-pad ad using English), and I think
the ad uses it to seem "with it." Most of the prestigious scholarly
publications of the world are in English, making it advantageous for scientists
and academics to learn it.
But the girls' eyes are Caucasian (the lines are vertical), the hair
light, giving the impression that these are Western
girls encouraging their Japanese counterparts to try Elldy. Japan
is slowly allowing women to have more of a say outside the home (where women
rule), and this ad seems to be a sign of that, especially when the girls
seem so young.
I wish I could translate the text for you - and me. Can a reader?
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A reader DID respond, in January 2001:
Hi!
You had two questions on your Web site about Japanese tampon companies
using English.
The first one (why are the instructions
for opening the Elldy tampon packet in English?) is pretty simple. English is a decorative language in Japan, much in the same way that you'll see random
Chinese characters (usually misprinted or completely out of context) on
clothes and hats in the US just because it looks cool. Except
that in Japan they've been using English as a decorative language for years
and years and years now. With something as simple as "open"
you really can't go wrong, but for some really funny examples of "Engrish"
I recommend you going to www.engrish.com.
(A good example of "Engrish" on your museum's Web site would
be the Elddy tampon instructions that say "Let's
enjoy tampon life!")
As for the girl saying "ummm," that's also pretty simple.
That's just the ad using roman characters to spell out Japanese onomatopoeia
(Roma-ji). She's just sighing comfortably.
[The writer later added:]
I'm just a regular Jane
Schmoe that happened to grow up in Japan.
You have a GREAT museum!
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Above: the left page in the two-page ad. The girl relaxing at top says,
"Ummmmm . . . . . .," for which I have no explanation.
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| Above: the right -hand page of the ad. |
A Japanese university student generously sent me the ad, along with
others, some very old,
which were part of a paper she wrote about the history of the Japanese menstrual
products industry.
© 2000 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce
or distribute work on this Web site in any manner or
medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org
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